Most residential buildings have rain gutters positioned at the lower edges of the roof to catch rainfall and receive water flowing off the roof. It is not uncommon that these gutters become clogged with debris such as leaves and twigs. When the gutter becomes clogged such that the water cannot flow through the gutter to the downspouts, the rainwater undesirably spills out of the gutter and over the front or back of the building.
Numerous gutter shields and other devices for reducing or preventing the influx of debris into a gutter are known in the art. Non-limiting examples of such gutter shields and debris-reducing systems for gutters are set forth below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,027 to Vail discloses a gutter protector that mounts in the open top of a gutter attached to a roof. The gutter protector includes an elongate sheet of flexible material (e.g., extruded vinyl) that is bent into a curved shape. The curved outer surface extends upwardly above the gutter and prevents large debris from falling into the gutter. Holes are positioned in the flexible material to allow the passage of water. A strip of a tangled mesh of fiberglass is positioned on an inner surface in alignment with the holes to prevent small debris from entering into the gutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,857 to Killworth, et al teaches a rain gutter shield that includes an elongated, layerless screen of porous, non-woven polymeric fiber material with two elongated semi-rigid ribs on each lateral edge of the screen. A channel is formed in the outside lateral edge of at least one of the ribs and is sized to snap onto the edge of the rain gutter. The header portion of the other rib is used to attach that edge of the rain gutter shield to the roof of the building. As a result, the rain gutter shield has a slanted face which helps to remove leaves and twigs from the surface of the rain gutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,208,081 to Jones discloses triangular gutter foam elements that are placed in a roof gutter below the gutter spikes. The foam material is an open pore polyether foam with 10-20 cells per square inch. The gutter foam element is generally in the shape of a right triangle. The hypotenuse side of the triangle defines a void in the lower front portion of the gutter for the passage of rainwater. In operation, rainwater passes though the gutter foam element; however, leaves and other large debris are unable to pass through the foam. Such large debris is blown from the gutter by wind.
Although gutter covers and other gutter systems used to prevent debris from entering into a rain gutter are known in the art, the covers and gutter systems are not as effective as desired. For instance, debris may pass through the holes in the gutter covers and accumulate within the gutter. Additionally, leaves and/or other debris may become entrapped in or on the gutter system, requiring removal of the debris by hand. Some known gutter systems are expensive to manufacture and maintain. As a result, there remains a need in the art for a gutter system that effectively and inexpensively prevents debris from entering and accumulating in a gutter positioned below a roof.